Join the conversation
Subcribe to comment rss feed
Issue 233 PDF
Browse On Landscape on your Tablet, iPad or Desktop
End frame: Toward Los Angeles, CA by Dorothea Lange
Manuel Cicchetti chooses one of his favourite images
Whispers
Self Publishing a Book on Dune Grasses
Drawn to Rock
Grit and Determination
Ellen Borggreve
Featured Photographer
Rabbit Warren Woods
A sense of discovery
A Journey into Abstraction
Can we as landscape photographers take images devoid of an understanding of the history and significance of a given place?
sponsored by ..
Over the last week, I’ve been editing a discussion I had with Guy Tal which will be published in the next issue. We covered a range of topics but one of them brought up an age-old discussion about categorising photography. This was referring to a philosophical idea of ‘the heap’ (Sorites Paradox) which considered a ‘heap’ of sand. The question raised is that if a million grains of sand are definitely a ‘heap’ and ten grains of sand are definitely not a ‘heap’, as you reduce the number of grains in the heap there must be a point at which you remove a single grain of sand and it changes from ‘heap’ to ‘not heap’.
You could ask a hundred people at what point that might be and they’ll all give different answers where the boundary lies. And this is just like the definition of what is “landscape photography” or “wild” landscape. How much man-made stuff can we have in a landscape before it’s not a landscape photograph? How close does a photograph have to be for it to be considered ‘intimate? How much editing can I make to a photograph before it’s not truthful?
The easy answer to this is to accept that only in a single person’s mind and at a single point in time can we give a binary answer. Averaged over a whole population of people who might change their minds from day to day, the answer becomes more about statistics. i.e. a photograph can be both a landscape photograph and not a landscape photograph at the same time. As soon as we drop the idea that the answer has to be binary we overcame a hell of a lot of stress. We can agree to disagree on an individual level because on a larger scale the answer is fuzzy. I don’t think this will stop the ongoing ontological arguments on social media anytime soon though!
Tim Parkin
Issue 233 PDF
Click here to download issue 233 (high quality, 135Mb) Click here to download issue 233 (smaller download, 88Mb) more
End frame: Toward Los Angeles, CA by Dorothea Lange
During a year like this, when the pandemic is giving us millions of souls to weep for as well as to remember, the imperative is to build our future by studying the past. Awareness of the past is the sharpest weapon we have in determining our future. more
Whispers
Back in the autumn, I saw a Facebook post by Jon about his new book 'Whispers' and we ordered a copy. Time got the better of me but I eventually got around to enjoying the book back in spring 2021. It had been a number of years since we interviewed Jon as our featured photographer, so I got in touch and started chatting about what he'd be up to and how the project came about. We interviewed you back more
Drawn to Rock
This small exhibition answers the request for an artistic response to the unique landscape of Brimham Rocks. The goal was to combine traditional photographic working methods with something more deliberately experimental. more
Ellen Borggreve
There is something about the forest that just moves me more than any other landscape. It is not open and vast like many other landscapes, but sheltered, intimate, mysterious and magical at the same time. more
Rabbit Warren Woods
To the pure of heart, lockdown was a chance to grow, be it spiritually, physically, and educationally. Unfortunately, I’m not pure of heart and lockdown continues to be difficult. Rabbit Warren Woods, a small pocket of trees close to home gave me a place to reclaim positivity. I’m not naturally introverted, and normally my moments of isolation are when I choose to be on my own, usually in the hills, often camping, these are times of reflection and times of more
A Journey into Abstraction
Can we as landscape photographers take images devoid of an understanding of the history and significance of a given place? more